Wee Bit of a Rant
I tend to avoid making political posts over at the social-site-with-faces. It’s really pointless, since most of my friends share the same views. Those that do not tend to get the vapors, so I avoid drama. I get plenty of drama at home. Anyway, a few days ago the whole place was atwitter (heh!) with a recently released news item concerning the views of a certain CEO of a certain store chain, claiming he only markets his brand to “the cool kids”, specifically, he doesn’t make clothing for women above size Large. The store does sell XL and XXL clothing for the muscular, athletic man, though.
Abercrombie & Fitch, the controversial US clothing retailer, has been accused of deliberately excluding plus-size women from wearing its clothes, by failing to make or sell women’s wear in any size above Large. The latest claims of body elitism come from Robin Lewis, a retail industry analyst and co-author of The New Rules of Retail, who says Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries “doesn’t want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people.”
Now, I don’t care for this company. Never have. I think they are over-priced and over-hyped and over-sexualized and that’s just not for me or my kids. But he has every right to market to whomever he wishes. It is HIS company, HIS vision, and HIS accountability to the shareholders. Now, keep in mind Mr. Jeffries made these statements in 2006 for Salon magazine, but is only now catching the attention of the blogosphere because….. I really have no idea. For whatever reason, people are up in arms about this. So I will rant away as only I can.
You don’t like it, then don’t shop there. You don’t like that he markets to the bold and beautiful and young and restless, then find someone who markets to YOU. Quit being a whiny little bitchy baby, grow some cojones, and move on. There is more pressing crap out there than some bloviating wannabe It Guy selling over-priced shit to stuck-up kids using their parents’ credit card.
I mean, it’s not like there aren’t any other places for plus-sized women to shop. At all. Seriously.
Sometimes I just want to slap the blogosphere.
Astral Pet Peeve
As news came of the meteor crashing in Russia, NASA sent out a press release that the meteor had absolutely nothing to do with Asteroid 2012 DA14, which came within 20 minutes of Earth.
Oh, sure, it was a smidge over 17,000 miles from our planet, but it’s more dramatic when measured in freakin’ minutes.
Anyway, everyone was still wigging out, and the one thing that really made me boil was…. the name.
Asteroid 2012 DA14
The hell?? I understand that we are rather limited in our English language and that NASA and the Astronomical Naming Union have certain guidelines for naming celestial bodies. But really, there are about 6,500 spoken languages, of which roughly 4,000 are spoken widely, and there are other alphabets we can use. Tamil has 69 characters in its alphabet! Heh, I typed ’69′. Anyway, with all the brou ha ha over the Mayan calendar, why not name it something way cool to scare the hell out of everyone? They were tracking it since February of 2012. Seems to me they missed the perfect opportunity to name it….
MAYAN DEATHWISH
See? How awesome would that have been??
I swear, if they let me name astral bodies, I would do it for free.
Learning the Hard Way
Some of the H&B readers and lurkers may be familiar with RFID, AKA Radio Frequency Identification. Basically, it’s the use of a microchip to detect your presence. Ranchers use this for cattle.
And now schools use them for students.
[T]he Northside Independent School District will be issuing RFID-equipped identification cards that the kids have to wear on lanyards any time they’re on campus. And then, in some corner of the principal’s office, the students show up as moving dots on a map of the screen like some real life game of Pac Man.
When NISD first proposed this, they defended it by masking it with concern for truant children. But the reality is, it is a way to keep taking money from the state. You see, school budgets are intertwined with attendance, and if kids are not in his or her seat when roll is called, that means the school doesn’t get money for having a kid in that seat.
Now, y’all may think that parents are ok with this because the schools are using it, right? Noooooooope. Parents were told, not even asked that this programs was to be implemented. Now, that was their first mistake. Their second mistake was implementing it at a magnet school. One very intelligent young woman stood up for her rights and refused to wear the lanyard with the tracking chip, and for that, she was expelled. She in turn took the case to court, and a judge will be ruling on her temporary injunction next week. And as it happens, someone decided to wreak a little havoc to bring attention to this rather obvious infringement on privacy.
Personally, I am not a fan of the entity known as Anonymous. In their quest for equilateral anarchy, they tend to leave a mess in their wake. But they are an equal opportunity pest, and sometimes they do hit a nail in a coffin pretty well. This Anon person makes a valid point: ASK THE PARENTS FIRST!!! They are the ones paying the taxes for the school system. Further, I have an issue with their whole “first period attendance” thing. According to my source, attendance is taken in the second period, because students do run late, have mishaps on the road, or buses can be late getting in. By second period, everyone who is at school is there anyway. Any student that has a doctor’s appointment, for example, is counted present when he or she check into the attendance office, so that excuse is weak at best.
The whole program reeks of control. Anyone who claims that this is for the safety of the children is either deluded, or in collusion. Just think what would happen if a pedophile hacked into the database. What’s next? Spying on students’ webcams?
Oh, wait…. that already happened.
We Will Not Be Broken
Yes, we are still in shock. Yes, we as conservatives underestimated the greed of those who believe they are entitled to everything by virtue of being in this country. Notice I did not say “being citizens”. Leeches abound regardless of citizenship.
But we will not be broken.
We have something no other country enjoys. I have lived and visited many places, and they all lack what we have here. It’s not pride. Having lived in Germany I witnessed how they lack pride of country, bringing out their flags only during the World Cup, and forgetting about countrymen such as Otto von Bismarck and Baron von Richthofen. You may counter with how the French are prideful braggarts and I would disagree. Oh, they have pride in their food and their language, and even of their citizenship, since they manage to hold those unlucky enough not to be born of French blood to be second class citizens. But country? Hell, they couldn’t tell me what building had been razed where the New Opera House stands. They think nothing of pissing against the wall of La Madeleine, not understanding the architectural and historical treasure it represents. To them, Napoleon is a dead guy, and Louis a common name. The Brits are not much better. They may rejoice in their former glory, but when it comes down to Socialism, they are quite happy to lay back and think of England. They carry so much guilt it shines like the sun off the Cliff of Dover.
No, we will not be broken. We have something they all lost long ago. Something they are unwilling to find, and unwilling to get back.
We have our American Spirit. And that, my friends, is something even the progressive culture can never take away. This cancer will eat at them, too. But unlike them, we will prevail, because it is in our veins to rise from the ashes and succeed.
Pink Eyed
Before I get into my rant, I just want y’all to understand I do not think it is an unworthy cause.
But I really, really hate the whole pink ribbon thing.
I have a few friends who have breast cancer, all in remission, praise God. And yes, even I have had a bad scare over it. And I will be the first one to scream at women to get checked and keep vigilant. But this whole “Pink Ribbon” thing is going a bit overboard.
Look, most people aren’t FOR breast cancer. And I say “most people” because y’all know as well as I do that there are some assholes in this world that don’t think women are anything but property, and not even valuable property at that. But for the most part everyone LOVES boobs. Anyway, I support the foundations that raise money for research and to bring treatment and early detection to women. But putting a pink ribbon on everything doesn’t mean a thing. Most people are not aware that when they buy a pink ribbon pencil or a pink ribbon apron that the money is not necessarily earmarked for a breast cancer research foundation like the Susan G. Komen Foundation. In fact, most of it isn’t. Only certain things specifically endorsed as having its proceeds go to a foundation are earmarked. One lady at the Bed and Bath store that goes Beyond was in line to purchase five pink ribbon items. She told the cashier that she buys this stuff so that the money goes to research. I interrupted her and asked if she had made sure that the items say they will donate. She checked, and sure enough NONE of them said that money would go to breast cancer research. She was very disappointed to find that out, but like me, she will be making her charitable donation direct from now on.
Frankly, the thing that gets me most upset is seeing the pink crap on football players. Pink gloves, pink cleats, pink towels, pink everything. My sister thinks it’s cool because she says they “support breast cancer awareness”. I asked her if by wearing the items did the foundations get money from the players? She didn’t know, and I have no idea either. I’m sure some of the players do contribute to cancer charities, but I see no reason or logic to completely flood the game with hot pink stuff. It’s almost like the light pink they used last year was just not catchy enough. Now, the hot pink just clashes with everything. It screams, “LOOK AT THE PINK AND DONATE, OR YOU SUCK!!!” Wearing a pink ribbon doesn’t make one a savior.
Personally, I’m glad that ESPN™ has decided to start pushing the “Blue Ribbon” campaign in support of prostrate cancer research. I’m tired of the way men get passed over simply because of their gender. Men are special, just as women are, and they deserve the same respect and attention.
I’m just glad the ribbon isn’t brown 
Sorry, Y’all
I had a very long weekend, no sleep last night, and I am tired.Sorry for being late!
However, this morning while running kids to school I heard the latest GEICO Gecko commercial on the radio.
And it PISSED. ME. OFF!!
Apparently it was targeting the South Texas audience, because the little reptile was talking about the Alamo. And he went on to say that he didn’t understand what all the fuss is about, since it’s so small, and where would anyone hide??
And I totally blew a gasket or three right then.
We didn’t hide, you little cretin. We faced the Mexican horde straight on, and died bravely. And the building may be small, but apparently you didn’t notice the entire walled area. No wonder GEICO is losing customers.
Fucking insect…
For ALL!!!
That’s the new celebrity endorsement that’s going around the web on behalf of the Obama campaign. It’s pictures of famous actors showing their right hands over their hearts, and pledging to support Obama, while delivering a message written on the hand stating why they support him.
Y’all know I just could NOT let that slide without a response. And taking my cue from my governor, Rick Perry, here it is:
I pledge allegiance to no man.
Fuck that on a stick with sauce, Prez!!
Inlaws and Outlaws
This past weekend found us travelling to visit family in the Houston area. Kids had a good time, and we left one of ours and picked up one of theirs. It evened out. Actually, the one we picked up is very low maintenance, so I think we are ahead.
Good things that happened:
- Went out for the evening with adults, no kids.
- Finally exchanged Christmas gifts.
- Learned to decant wine.
- Found that my arm is the perfect size for the dog to *ahem* love.
Bad things that happened:
- Drove in rain.
- Saw inlaws house. Wept bitterly.
- Unwrapped inlaws gifts. Sighed deeply.
- Bridges burn very hot.
Oh, and Hubby’s household goods finally came in. Today I get to unpack and wash and fold and iron and put away and I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing that happened. Jury is still out on that
Because I Can, For Now
It’s Sunday, and Son’s friend stayed over so they could do something spectacular on Minecraft™, which means we get to go out for breakfast.
AWESOME!!
And y’all know plenty of bacon will be had by all, especially me. After this week, my rebellious side has been screaming, raging against the machine, and overall flipping the bird at our Nanny State©. I will enjoy it will I can, because one day in the not-too-distant future, this will be the ONLY way we will be allowed to enjoy the fatty goodness:
So remember, as y’all are having your wonderful Sunday breakfast, to give the finger in the general direction of Washington, D.C.
You know damn well I will be 
Psycho-tomy
Honestly, I just don’t understand this.
By now, y’all have heard about this:
School bus monitor bullied by students
My blood pressure had a few spikes, and I thought the kids should be ever grateful they live nowhere near me. Four seventh graders, one of which is the son of a police officer, took it upon themselves to bully a grandmother whose job is to monitor the activities on that school bus.
How sick and depraved is that??
Now I find out that, not only is that poor woman not filing charges, there is a fundraising effort currently underway for her, and it has reached nearly half a million dollars. And she deserves every penny. But here is what pisses me off:
- She’ll have to pay taxes on it, at a much higher rate than that of her current income rate.
- The kids haven’t apologized.
- The community that is showing support for her is the same community that couldn’t be bothered to teach those kids not to be bullies.
- The backlash against the kids is making them out to be the victims.
Those kids are victims of their lackadaisical parents. That’s it. THEY took it upon themselves to verbally abuse and attack a woman trying to do her job. And without swift intervention, they will end up being little psychos terrorizing others. No, I don’t agree with people texting and emailing threats to those kids. I think that’s atrocious and extreme. But I do think they need to be taught fear, so they can learn respect.
Remember, these are the kids that will be in charge in the future. The words “Soylent Green” come to mind when I think of that.
Loading ...